April 19 (UPI) -- Two people, including the president of a Florida-based steel export company, were arrested and charged in the United States in the last week for purchasing tens of millions of dollars worth of product from a blacklisted Ukrainian oligarch.
The three-year scheme saw John Can Unsalan, president of Metalhouse LLC, use his company to transfer $150 million to U.S.-sanctioned oligarch Sergey Kurchenko and two of his Russia-based companies Gaz-Alyans and ZAO Vneshtorgservis in exchange for steelmaking metal products from July 2019 to at least October 2021, prosecutors said in the indictment.
Prosecutors also accused Unsala of attempting to collect millions from the Ukrainian for undelivered products.
Unsalan, 41, of Orlando, was arrested Friday while his co-conspirator, Sergey Karpushkin, 46, a Belarus citizen living in Miami, was arrested Wednesday, the Justice Department said.
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Both have been charged with one count of conspiring to violate and evade U.S. sanctions in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, while Unsalan faces an additional 10 counts of violating the IEEPA, 10 counts of international money laundering and one count of conspiring to commit international money laundering.
Specifics underlying the charges were not made immediately available, but the Justice Department said Unsalan did business with Kurchenko despite knowing that the Ukraiain was under U.S. sanctions.
Kurchenko, 37, was designated by the U.S. Treasury in 2015 over connections to the deposed pro-Russia Ukrainian government of disgraced President Viktor Yanukovych, the misappropriation of public assets and the undermining of democratic processes in Ukraine.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, Kurchenko has come under sanctions imposed by the European Union, Britain and Japan.
In the EU's sanctioning note of April 21 of last year, the 27-member bloc accuses Kurchenko of having taken control of several large metallurgical, chemical and energy places in separatist-held areas of Ukraine with the support of pro-Russia separatists.
He also owns the largest oil depot on the Russia-occupied Crimean Peninsula, where the EU said he strengthened independent power suppliers.
The Justice Department said that if convicted, Unsalan and Karpushkin face up to 20 years' imprisonment for each count they have been charged with.
